SAN FRANCISCO – A vast majority of California’s rooftop solar companies could go bankrupt in the coming weeks and months as a result of misguided state policy changes that have imperiled the industry, according to a new report in pv magazine.
The warning – from a leading executive at an insurance company that backs many state solar installers – is a catastrophic turnaround from the recent status of California’s residential solar program as one of the most successful of any state.
Ara Agopian, chief executive officer at Solar Ensure, told the magazine that its data show roughly two-thirds of solar companies in the state are at “high risk” of bankruptcy. “We have seen a wave of recent solar installer bankruptcies and believe another wave will come in Q1 2024,” he said.
More than 17,000 solar installation jobs vanished during the last half of 2023, following disastrous changes to the state’s popular rooftop solar program. The California Public Utilities Commission, or CPUC, approved changes sought by the state’s investor-owned power companies that broadly put solar out of reach for many households.
The changes are taking a heavy toll on the entire solar sector. On Friday, Fremont-based solar equipment company Enphase Energy announced it will lay off 350 workers.
Many more job losses are expected in 2024 in the solar sector as the changes continue to wreak havoc, says an analysis by the California Solar & Storage Association, or CALSSA.
The devastating hit to the state’s once-booming residential solar industry is not linked to any economic downturn but can be entirely attributed to decisions last year by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s handpicked membership of the CPUC.
The five-member utilities commission voted unanimously to gut the state’s financial incentives for rooftop solar installations, which allowed more than 1.3 million families and small businesses to afford to install solar panels. The commission sided with utilities, despite long-running warnings from the Environmental Working Group and others about the many negative consequences of approving the changes.
“It’s unrecognizable what California has done to its pride and joy. The rooftop solar industry is the iconic renewable energy success story and it’s just amazing, just gob smacking, what the state has done,” said CALSSA Executive Director Bernadette Del Chiaro, discussing the CPUC’s decision during a recent webinar.
The state’s three investor-owned utilities – Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric – sought the changes. They despise the successful solar initiative, because it allowed their captive ratepayers to escape the utilities’ grip and generate their own electricity at considerably lower costs.
Scores of individuals from across the state and more than 600 clean energy, environmental justice, affordable housing advocates, cities, schools and solar industry representatives repeatedly warned the CPUC and Newsom that the state’s thriving solar industry would crater if regulators backed the utilities’ scheme.
Dave Rosenfeld, executive director of the nonprofit Solar Rights Alliance, who joined Del Chiaro during the recent webinar, said:
Nearly a quarter of a million people directly told the CPUC, don’t do this. Keep rooftop solar growing. There were more than 600 nonprofits, entire cities, school districts, farmers, businesses who were all saying, don’t do this. Keep rooftop solar growing.
But the CPUC, and by extension Gov. Newsom, completely disregarded what the public was saying. We told them. They didn’t listen and now the consequences are starting to come down the pike.
“The CPUC, as always, did exactly what PG&E told them to,” said EWG President and Bay Area resident Ken Cook, who moderated the webinar. “Extinguish the only source of competition for the big utilities and by doing that, cause thousands of jobs to be lost, businesses gone and the opportunity for energy independence to be lost along with it.”
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The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.
